Oh BOY!!! (or girl???)

I'm sure many have already heard our latest news, but the Lord has blessed us with another BABY!! We are thrilled. He/she should arrive around the 12th of December. That will make Hayley almost 3 1/2 and Jack will be almost 23 months. So we will definitely have our hands full, but we are blown away by this incredible blessing and so excited to have another little one around here to love on! It's interesting b/c my mom felt really strongly a couple of months ago not to recommit to a bunch of her activities in Austin for next year. She wasn't 100% why she felt like she shouldn't, but trusted it was what God wanted for her. YAY, GOD!! He was looking after ME!! She'll have much more flexibility to help us out and we are so happy about that. I ordered all new stockings for our family last Christmas and I went ahead and ordered one extra---not thinking I'd use it THIS Christmas!!! Too fun! We appreciate prayers for a healthy baby and a healthy pregnancy---and a supernatural gift of ENERGY this first trimester!

I went on a sister trip this weekend to a Joyce Meyer conference in Phoenix, AZ! My sisters and I hadn't spent good time together since we went to Europe for 3 weeks together and backpacked the year after I graduated from college. Abby was only 16, Angie was 21 and I was 23. Kind of hard to believe my parents went for that one! We're SO glad they did though! We had such a blast. We had some good quality time together and it went way to fast! Anyone who has never heard Joyce Meyer speak should seriously listen to her if you ever get the chance. She has a tv program on Daystar "Enjoying Everyday Life" and she has teachings on her website you can listen to. She's so encouraging and I have really grown to love her. It's a great way to get a "pick me up" during the day when kids are napping!

I think we're done w/ sicknesses around here for awhile. Hayley passed her pink eye to Jack--he came down w/ it last week and his also turned into an ear infection. I asked the dr. if he could pass it back to Hayley or if she was immune since she just had it and the dr. said, YES she could get it again! WHAT??? How on earth do you keep this vicious cycle from repeating? Lots of prayer is the answer. Looking forward to a great week and to getting to see the newest addition at my dr.'s appointment on Friday! Here we go again!!!

Happy Easter!

We got GREAT news on Friday! Jack does NOT have mono! His spleen was back to normal too. The doctor said he guessed it must have been some other random virus, but we're choosing to believe that we asked God to heal Jack and HE ANSWERED!

We found out the results to his bloodwork while I had Hayley there for pink eye! Friday morning her eyes looked TERRIBLE! There was so much yucky junk in them and it wouldn't go away. They checked her out and everything else looked fine. Got antibiotic drops and we were on our way.

Friday late afternoon was SO much fun! Tara, Aly, Abby and I took Donna to High Tea at the Ashton Hotel in Ft. Worth for her birthday. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to do that kind of stuff. It was so much fun being with all the girls! The 5 of us went on a trip to New York before Tara got married and I think it's the last time we all hung out together like that. Lots of fun! I love my in-laws. It's like I was born for 2 families. Mine and Tra's! From day ONE I've felt so comfortable w/ his sisters and parents. I LOVE spending time with them and can't imagine dreading being w/ my in-laws. It makes me sad for people who aren't as crazy about theirs. It's fun to love another family just like your own!

Saturday was going great until 5ish when Hayley woke up from her nap screaming that her ear hurt. She was running fever and miserable. Took her to the new Care Now right down the street (the web check-in is the way to go!) and she has an EAR INFECTION! Poor baby! I ended up sleeping w/ her last night b/c her fever was so high (103.5 ON MOTRIN) and she woke up in panic mode several times reaching for me. I think her fever is down and I'm hoping she wakes up feeling better. Do you kind of feel like I'm going to say "April Fools?" I feel like I've been in the middle of a very cruel April Fool's joke over the past week and a half or so. SURELY this is the last of the sickness around here for awhile!

I was asking God what else we needed to be doing? Sometimes you wonder if there is something in the environment causing the sickness (or maybe it's Chick-Fil-A and McDonald's playlands??) ha ha. So I told Him last night I was just going to be quiet and listen and wait for Him to tell me what we needed to do differently---a different way to pray, a sin we needed to repent of, WHAT??? I was in the kitchen making fruit salad for Easter lunch today and it was silent. Kids asleep, Tra at pharmacy getting medicine, and after a few minutes deep in my spirit I heard Him, "Praise ME." So I did. It's one of my favorite things to do. And it was good to be reminded to acknowledge God for WHO HE IS in the midst of the craziness of life. HE heals, HE loves, HE comforts us in our times of need, HE provides me with strength, HE showers us with BLESSING upon BLESSING! And today HE LIVES!! Praising God for the most precious gift of His Son and for giving Him up for us so that WE may truly LIVE!

POOP!!!

Today was another milestone in the Willbanks' household! Hayley pooped on the potty for the first time ever! It is really funny how excited I am about this. I never imagined I would be so excited about poop! So I thought I would share my excitement w/ all you other blogging moms out there who have experienced the same joy as you contemplate never changing a poopy diaper again (at least of HERS)! We'll see if it continues. We made a super big deal out of it today, of course, and went to Braum's for a family celebration tonight of ICE CREAM!!

Jack went in for bloodwork today and we'll get results tomorrow to see if it is (was) mono or not. His spleen was back to normal today, so that was GREAT news!

Other than that, pretty uneventful around here today. I'll take uneventful. We're excited about Easter weekend. It so much fun having Hayley get excited about Easter this year. Earlier she goes, "We'll say 'YOOOOO-HOOOOOO, Easter eggs!? Where arrrre youuuu?" I need to make



sure to talk as much about the REAL reason of Easter as much as hyping up egg hunts and candy.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!