Announcing Elijah Franklin Jones!

He's here...thank you Lord God for your grace and provision. Baby son and mother both doing extremely well. He was born at 12:15 am on Saturday, Jan. 29th, at home.
We got the boys up to come and see their new baby brother.

Here he is just minutes after birth.

He has lots of dark, curly hair as you can see. He was being weighed by the midwife in this photo, and weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz. 19 1/2 inches long.

Eli with his very happy Grammy. We are so excited that we got to meet him just hours before flying home. Crazy day went well and was lots of fun, and then the birth. God is good.

A quick update

Today is 'Crazy Day' and it is progressing along, which is more than I can say for Julie. Things slowed in the night and have not resumed as of now, about 3:30 pm. She is still in light labor, but nothing promising. Rather disappointing for all of us, but babies do come in their own time. We are trusting in God, and having a good time in the meantime. Grammy

Day 8 and Baby Report

Yesterday morning everyone was feeling a bit blue with Julie about not going into labor. So, some white roses appeared. The girls delighted in them, as well as Julie.
Boy, is this a busy household! It's really hard to find time to post on this blog. Between school work, reading stories, cooking, endless dishes and laundry, playing in the snow and extra activities, it's a lot of fun! Yesterday, it was home school day at the ice skating rink, with cheap rates. As it turned out it was in the middle of huge snowstorm, and we were the only family that came. We had the ice rink all to ourselves.

The boys did a little practicing of their balancing and did a great job.

Millie got brave enough to travel around the outside of the rink, and go with Dad for a bit. Of course you realize that Julie didn't skate, but I did have to work to keep her from stepping out on the ice.

Samuel

All the tired but happy skaters.

The two girls helped me wrap up the baby blanket I made for the little one, and give the present to Mommy. We were hoping it might make the baby want to come out to see it!

This morning Julie was in light labor, so we decided to go to the Mall to walk. There was a fun play place for the little ones to play while the older ones watched them, and we walked.

Millie on a plastic heart.

Cecily in a helicopter...

and Calvin helping to entertain little sister.

We walked much of the day. First at the mall, and then at the grocery store. Julie's labor became more pronounced as the day wore on.

William will turn 10 on Feb. 4th. We had previously decided that while we were here we would all go bowling as a family for his birthday. After getting home from the store, Julie didn't want to just wait around, so we put a chicken in the oven to roast and headed to the bowling alley.

The insurance man and I with all our fun grandkids, and the bowling guy in the background....

Granddaughter love....

Of course, Cecily wanted her turn, even though she couldn't lift a ball.

Julie was the designated picture taker, between contractions.

Papa gave Samuel some pointers.

Everyone had a general good time.

After we finished bowling, William opened a present from us.

It was two air pistols, and a real powder horn. Look at that big smile!

He also got a pocket-sized multi-tool, with a real flashlight from Papa.

We had dinner when we got home, and Julie checked in with the mid-wife. Peter and I were a little nervous to hear it would take her 1 1/2 hours to get here, and the roads are very snowy. She thought Julie should go to bed, and would probably wake up in full labor sometime in the night. We are to call her then. Of course, we do have 'Doctor John' here, if we should need him....which is just one of the designations for the insurance man. Hopefully, the midwife will make it. Please pray for us tonight, and for this new little life about to enter the world. We are all exited, and very grateful that God did speed the birth along. Hopefully tomorrow I will be posting photos of the new baby and family. One other prayer request: Normally the insurance man and I have a crazy day with the children after a birth. This entails dinner for breakfast, breakfast for lunch etc. going back to bed after 'dinner', mixing things all up and having a generally fun and crazy day. The point of all this is to celebrate the new baby, and to help the children to remember the day he/she was born. However, there is only one day left. So, we will have to do all of this tomorrow on top of everything. PLEASE PRAY that things will go smoothly, and God would be pleased to grant us the strength and patience to do this. Thanks! More later....

A 2-day Post

Yesterday, Samuel and I were the designated breakfast team. Samuel made enough oatmeal to feed an army, and I made the topping. We sauteed sliced bosc pears with butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Needless to say it was a big hit!
This group of four children were reciting poems to me, and showing me the birds they had made to go along with it. Definitely some Grammy entertainment.

More poetry and artwork...

After lunch Amelia and I decided to make a Texas sheet cake for dinner.

Amelia is quite a little baker woman. She did very well at pouring out the batter into the cake pan... then putting it into the oven with Grammy. After baking for 20 minutes, we cooked the frosting and added it to the hot cake. Milly spread it around, then sprinkled the cake with chopped walnuts. (She really liked that part.)

Of course being the cook has it's rewards.

The best part of course is always in the eating, and everyone was eagerly waiting to sample Milly's cooking.

*Baby Report

No baby as yet. The midwife came yesterday and said the baby has dropped much lower into position. Julie is healthy and feeling alright. She is anxious though to get this baby introduced to the world and the family.

There are no photos from today. Today was one of several mishaps...from a spilled pail of mop water dripping through the ceiling onto the furnace and hot water heater, to Grammy slipping on a muddy hill and getting covered with a brown sticky mud. It's one of those days that happens to everyone, and we are all glad it's almost over for tonight. I hope to report that things are happening with our newest baby tomorrow.

Sabbath Sunday

Here it is, Christ Church of Morgantown, with the Pastor and his family. Of course, that is Peter and Julie and their family. I thought you all at home would enjoy seeing the 7th Day Adventist Church where they meet.
What a great Sunday morning worship time we had. The insurance man and I had a wonderful time fellowshipping and renewing acquaintances and making a few new ones. One family new to us was the Bolyard family, which we greatly enjoyed meeting.
We came home to a great ham dinner, then the children got on their snow clothes and we left to go visit the Oldland family, friends at Church. They live about 25 miles out in the country from Morgantown.

The Oldlands have 7 children, so it's always fun when the kids get together. The 8 oldest children all went outside to the sledding hill immediately and spent several hours. I got a photo of several of them making a 'train' of sleds to go down the hill. Sometime, while going down, Calvin got left behind as you can see.

Here they are at the bottom with several of their various snow transports.

Meanwhile, inside several adults got to talk while enjoying the babies, and the little ones played with the toys. Millie actually brushed the teeth of all the babies there.

Here, several of the kids are watching a slide show on the computer of photos taken at the Winter Ball. Samuel, Will and Ben all got to dance with the Oldland girls,and enjoyed seeing themselves on the computer.

We had another really fun day together.

*Baby Update

Yesterday Julie didn't feel well all day, and we were hopeful that baby was on the way. But she woke up this morning feeling much better : ( So, today is an appt. with the midwife, and she will tell us a little more. Please pray for a delivery in the next few days, so we will be here to help and to see the new baby. Thank you!

No baby yet...

Well, day 3 has come and almost gone. Julie is walking on the treadmill again, but nothing in sight. We are looking forward to the Sabbath tomorrow, and hearing Peter preach again. It is Sanctity of Life Sunday, so he will be preaching on abortion.
We did a variety of small things today, keeping it simple. We had a rather late breakfast, then did some chores. Julie and I took the girls grocery shopping, while Papa and Peter took the boys sledding at a fun hill in a nearby park. We all met at home for a lunch of nachos and oranges. Cecily napped after that, while Sam and Ben played outdoors. Julie did a little cooking and a little bit of phonics with two of the boys. Millie, Calvin and I colored and Papa had a wrestling match. We enjoyed a really nice Sabbath dinner tonight, and while we were picking up the table and dishes the girls entertained themselves. Millie read what the picture represented and had Cecily point to it. Cecily eagerly joined right in and repeated after Millie pointing to the picture. I thought it was funny how they did this backwards in the chair.

Eventually they got turned right side around, sort of... but both of them enjoyed the sister time.

Papa and I have got our sleeves rolled up, and are pitching in with the cooking and esp. dishes. There is a never-ending supply around here. I kindly took this photo after the BIG piles were done, and the kitchen almost back to square one. Cooking for ten is an experience. Yesterday I opened up 4 cans of tuna for our sandwiches. It's rather shocking, and takes some expert shopping to accomplish this on a budget. Anyway, that's it from Morgantown for today.

A 2nd day in Morgantown

Another great Grammy & Papa day, here with the Jones family. Overnight we had about 5 inches of snow, with a high temp today of 16-17 degrees. We decided that a trip to the library might help everyone with 'cabin fever', so we packed up the Suburban and headed downtown.

Calvin, Milly and Cecily all played with the toys while the older three boys selected new books. There was a great train set that kept Calvin occupied for a couple of hours. Papa and Peter ran to the store (an almost daily need) while Julie & I oversaw the library fun.

Ben looked for and read some horse books, while Will looked up dragon books to check out. Cecily sat and did every one of this stack of puzzles with Mom, while Milly tried out a variety of toys.

Sam is growing up right before our eyes. He was looking for books in the adult non-fiction section, which is his favorite. He picked out a history book by my favorite history author David McCullough, "Mornings on Horseback" a history of a section of Theodore Roosevelts' life.

After lunch of tuna sandwiches, carrots and bananas...the boys headed outside to play in the snow. The bigger boys went to make snow tunnels in the piles left by the snowplow, and Ben rode his disc down a run they had made at the side of the house.

They stayed out in the cold for several hours, having a grand time!


Meanwhile the girls got on their 'dancing girls' and had a fun time dancing to a new CD of hymns.

Next in line was a batch of chocolate chip cookies to surprise the boys with when they came in from the cold. Millie and Papa are the select bakers.

What dough Millie didn't eat got placed on the cookie sheets and ready for the oven.

The appreciative boys gave them the taste test and pronounced them wonderful. Papa says that although he doubled the recipe, the cookies disappeared really fast! Another very fun and busy day.

*Baby Update

Julie just walked 1/2 mile on her treadmill, and although it put her into a contraction, it is still just the pre-labor kind. It does help her to sleep better though.

More tomorrow.