The new BIG sister

Abigail just learned that SHE is going to be a big sister. Yep, baby Lechner #3 is on its way a little sooner than planned, but in God's perfect timing. I'm about 13 weeks right now with the baby's very estimated due date around June 13th. When I actually stop and remember that I am pregnant (which isn't very often, to be honest, since life is pretty busy around here) I am very excited.  And Alathea is thrilled. She'll boldly proclaim that the baby is "a boy named Joseph". She really thinks its a boy. I really think its a girl :) Joe and I would be totally happy either way. Any guesses of your own? We'll Lord willing find out in Mid-January. 

PS to my family...sorry, I was hoping to wait and surprise you in person at Christmas, but couldn't wait that long :)

Florida!!

The week before Thanksgiving we had an amazing vacation at Orange Lake Country Club in Orlando, Florida. It's unusual for us to vacation in the fall, but this was Gods perfect timing. Just days before we left our buyers loan fell through, so it was wonderful to have something so lovely to look forward to after a whirlwind discouraging events.

Joe & I went to Orange Lake for another timely trip, just weeks after my Mom died, when Alathea was only 7 months old! We knew we loved the place and we were thrilled to have an opportunity to go back!

The first few days it was just the four of us. We enjoyed the amazing pools and lazy river and went to Disney World for a day and took the girls to the Rain Forest Cafe at night. Super fun little family times. But the rest of the week was super fun too, once the rest of the Bowers clan arrived on Tuesday:

The whole clan. I just love when we are all together!

JuJu with her girls

There was a lovely "beach area" with sand, palm trees and hammocks. We loved letting the girls play in  the sand while we swung in the hammocks. I could do this every day :)

We love that their are palm trees, tropical plants and water falls everywhere! The resort is the biggest in the world and has a 12 acre water park and 1/2 mile lazy river. Just some of the reasons why we love it here!

These two are hilarious together. Joe's planning an attack on this bird trying to get into our condo. Julie is a little scared :)

Alathea watching people float by on the Lazy River

Mimi Golf! A must for Bowers vacations.

This picture of Abigail makes me laugh. She's in her own world, talking to her new best friend Mini Mouse, while the rest of us are hanging out together. Sweet Girl.

Abigail's first pony tail. She now insists on one everyday!

I think she was told she was "pretty" one too many times.

Alathea & Julie went for a WILD ride on this golf cart! I thought they might fly off of it!! With Julie's driving record, my fears were warranted :)

We stayed on one of the FOUR golf courses on the resort. Rocky & Joe enjoyed many rounds of golf together. And with the sweet deals they offered, it was virtually free! As you can see, Alathea loves her Uncle Rocky!

Julie & Alathea on the Lazy River

Another sweet freebie- the Cabana. It was just off the Lazy River (you can see it behind Joe). It was like our own little house by the River, with a TV, fridge, snacks, ceiling fan, ect. Pretty awesome!

The girls loved all the Florida wild life that would visit each morning.  These we named the grey flamingos, they were a favorite.

One of the girls favorite pools! We loved having no one there early in the morning!!

Daddy is so much fun!!

The girls playing in the beach area.

A wonderful, timely Bowers vacation!! I must add that it was difficult leaving the sunny and 80 degree Florida weather to coming home to cold and rainy Charlotte! But at least it makes it feel more like Christmas!!

Sad, sweet little girl

I've done a poor job of talking to my girls about my Mom this past week. Given that its her birthday week and Christmas is approaching, its easier to not bring up such an emotionally charged topic. But out of the blue, Alathea must have mentioned "Nana" (my Mom) 5-6 times yesterday. It was really sweet. Like a little gift from God, a reminder that she won't be forgotten. But tonight, Oh my, I don't even know where to start. As I was putting the girls to bed Alathea began SOBBING. Really sobbing, with her face buried in her sheets. I asked her what was wrong and she cried, "I Miss Nana". So sweet. She went on to tell me (through her tears) that she wanted to see Nana today. She wanted to "go to Nana's house and have her hold me and I can lay in her bed like when I was a baby". (How she knows she'd lay in bed with Mom for hours when she was only a few months old, I have no idea). When I gently reminded her that Nana had died and is now with Jesus, she started sobbing again, this time uncontrollably, saying, "But I don't want Nana to die!!! I  want to see her!!" Oh my, just so sweet and tender. Alathea can be a drama queen, but this was no act, I could tell she was completely genuine. The next 10 minutes were the sweetest ever, as I held her, and held back tears myself, and tried to comfort my little 3 year old in the realities of death, but also the truth and glories of Heaven. And how one day, if she gives her heart and life to Jesus, she can see her again. After that she asked, "And then will Nana die again?" It brought great joy to my own heart to happily assure her that no, Nana will never die again, and that she is happy, dancing and singing with Jesus right now. That really made Alathea smile. Then she'd bury her head in my shoulder again and sob. This means so much to me...my girls really know who my Mom is, even though she only lived until Alathea was 6 months old. Alathea knows "honey" (her bunny) was from my Mom, and that Abigail's middle name is Kathleen, after my Mom. And tonight they loved looking at this picture of my Mom kissing Alathea when she was 3 months old that is hanging in their room. Abi even said, "Nana!" tonight. Warms my heart and saddens it at the same time. 

It does make me wonder if my Mom's death will be a wonderful avenue to bring the Gospel to life in my girls eyes at young ages. I sure pray that it is so! Wouldn't that be a wonderful way of God working all things for good. 

Today

...would have been my Mom's 53rd Birthday. I love this picture of her laughing. I miss her laugh so much!! I miss her so much!!! Happy Birthday Mom! I'm sure you are having a fabulous birthday in Heaven. 

Keep my family in your prayers. The holidays are tough when you are missing a loved one, especially your Mom!

Disney World: the best day of Alathea's entire life

I went a little crazy with pictures on this post, but Alathea was sitting on my lap and wanted them to keep coming. Anyways, we went to Disney World!! I still can't believe it. We were in Orlando, Florida vacationing with my family the week before Thanksgiving and our little family of four had a few days to ourselves. We thought of taking Alathea to Disney World, but sadly had to rule it out because it was SO expensive for even just one day. BUT, God had a different plan. A week before we left my friend Jenn stopped by our house with a "surprise"- she had Disney World tickets!! We were blown away and totally excited. Alathea absolutely loves the Disney princesses and we knew taking her to Disney World would be amazing. It was... here is Alathea's favorite day of her life:

Alathea could not stop smiling ALL day. This is her on the monorail into Magic Kingdom at 7:45am. She was sooo happy. And as you can see below, just a few feet into the park she couldn't help but run up and hug a statue of Mini Mouse!

A must have Cinderella's castle picture. Alathea's still smiling!!

(Abi still does not understand what all the fuss is about :)

Alathea loved all the statues. She's easy to please.

First stop of day: meet Ariel!

The slides were Abi's favorite thing. She wasn't nearly as thrilled with Disney World as Alathea. I give her 1 year and I bet she will be.

Next stop: Mickey and Mini Mouse. Joe was as excited to meet them as Alathea!!

The she met THE PRINCESSES!! I wish I could post the video's we have of her meeting them. We've never seen her so excited about anything :)

After meeting the princesses we spent the rest of the day on rides. 

The girls loved all of them. Alathea's favorite ride was "Africa" (as she calls it), 

or the jungle cruise. She thought the animals were real!

And then she met Snow White, her favorite princes of all.

We got great seats for both parades that day. They were incredibly well done. By far Abigail's favorite part of the day were the parades. She loved all the music and dancing.

By mid-day this is Abi (above) and Alathea (below)

We ended our "magical" day with fireworks by Cinderella's castle. 

Even on the way home at 10pm, Alathea was still happy as could be, naming each of the princesses she met that day. It was a special day. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get to go again one day!

Family Life

I haven't posted any recent pictures lately, so here are a bunch!

All thanks to Jason Kovacs (JasonKovacs.com). 

Hopefully we'll get all the pictures soon, but here are a few he shared on facebook. 

The latest on my biggest blue-eyed beauty. This morning she woke up with major bed-head, worse than normal. And as I looked closely it appeared she had bangs. I immediately thought back to our beach trip when Joe gave her bangs without me knowing and asked her, "Did Daddy cut your hair?" She just smiled and totally enthusiastically said, "No, I DID!" Upon further inspection I have to give the kid credit, her hair really looked pretty good. Maybe she has a future in hair? It also solved the mystery why she had her hair clipped back religiously all afternoon the day before. If you see her soon, her hair will most likely be clipped back again, but it you want to see her master work, just ask her and she'll gladly let it down, proud for all to see!

And for my baby blue-eyed beauty. She's growing into a huge mama's girl. She'd be happy to have me hold her and rock her every minute of every day. It's precious, but somewhat perplexing, since she's such an active little girl. She really dislikes any kind of children's ministry. So much that she'll sob the from the parking lot all the way into her class (and calling out names of people she see's along the way to rescue her, really!). And when in class she won't leave the teachers lap the entire time! Last week she feel asleep while a teacher rocked her for 2 hours!  This is the same kid who two weeks ago asked if she could walk (instead of being pushed in the stroller) at Northlake Mall. She's pretty good about staying next to me and we were about to get on the elevator, so I thought it was no problem. Well...that is until the moment the elevator doors opened and she mad-dashed, all while hysterically laughing, as fast as she could away from me. I was laughing too, thinking she was just being silly and would run right back. Well, no. She got her big sis to join in and they ran straight for a super-fancy jewelry store next to the elevator. I called them back, but they continued their mad dash not only into the store, but through the swinging door and behind the counter...all while laughing! I was just a few steps off the elevator at this point, it was so unexpected and fast. Despite their disobedience, I thought it was kind of funny, but of course tried to keep a straight face. It seemed harmless until I saw the look on the guy who worked at the jewelry store, he looked totally panicked!! He called the girls, and I think they got scared and ran into the BACK of the jewelry store. He was so upset. At this point I offered to get them but he said NO ONE is allowed back there. It was hard not to laugh the next few minutes while I heard him trying to coax  them out. They were so scared they wouldn't come. By the time they finally came out they were so terrified by the mean jewelry man I believe they learned their lesson!

I love the sweetness these two have. Sooo blessed to be sisters.

As for us regarding the house, the buyers loan fell through. So we are back to square one. We at first were a bit perplexed over all that had happened the past two months, but rest that God is perfectly in control. This is his good, wise and perfect plan for us. I've been reading an amazing little book Joe gave me called "A Shepherds Look at Psalm 23". Its been just what I've needed. Daily reminders of God's personal, faithful love and care for me and his ability and desire to provide all that I need. 

Thats all for now. Again, all these amazing pics are thanks to Jason Kovacs Photography, and thanks to my wonderful husband as they were my mothers day/b-day gift from him :) 

the latest

 Just thought I'd write a quick post updating our house situation. The picture of the girls has nothing to do with it, but it makes me smile (my girls + summer always makes me smile :), so I thought I'd include it. Anyways, we heard from Lloyd, our realtor selling our house, that it looks like after all this time our buyer most likely will not qualify for his loan. Now this is a huge surprise, since he pre-qualified no problem, is putting money down and has a steady job in the military. Its a complicated and surprising story, but to make it brief, he needs to have more convincing proof that he has a good job come march when he gets out of the military (he does, he just doesn't have proof...long story). It really boils down to whether the lender trusts him enough. So, the loan went back into underwriting one more time, and we should find out this week. If you think of it, you can pray for God to move in the heart of the lender to approve this loan, if its His will! Otherwise, we are back at square one. No need to update you on the house we have under contract on the other end! That only counts if our house goes to settlement. 

I was reminded today of this scripture:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

  lean not on your own understanding,

in all your ways acknowledge him, and He

will keep your paths straight"

While this was indeed disappointing news, I have faith that the Lord is working all things for good.

He is my Father who loves me and knows what is best. I am perplexed at times, wondering what 

these past weeks have been about, but I'm realizing there is no need to try and figure it all out.

God knows and is in control and that is all that matters.