Here's a recent photo...Abel is already almost 7 months old! It's a bit shadowy but the best we can get with 5 boys, on a whim, outside our church, with an old iphone. Perhaps I'll find the time for a Christmas update in the next few weeks.

Abel Titus Plair was born Sunday, May 15, at 2:17am, welcomed by four doting brothers! He weighed in at 8 lbs, 2 oz, measuring 21 inches long. Abel means “breath, son, or breathing spirit” and we praise our merciful God for his safe delivery into our arms and for giving another son the breath of life.

Titus is in memory and honor of our dear nephew who died during childbirth five years ago on Tuesday, May 17th. My brother, Tanner Snow, and his sweet wife, Megan Snow, suffered the grief and loss of their firstborn son, but have honored Christ by the strength only He can provide in such pain. 

We are honored to give his name to our 5th son to carry on his memory in our hearts and lives. For what would have been his 5th birthday, Megan Snow is posting tributes written by family members and friends, and a beautiful poem she wrote here: https://snowinlove.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/delivered/

Our hearts are full of the joy God gives so uniquely in the blessing of children, and the future hope Tanner and Megan have in that blessing.

Shepherd approves!

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Crazy. Hot. Summer. (and lots of fun in it!)

Though this summer has shattered heat records, I cannot complain at all! We have a working a/c, a van with a/c, a pool membership, and we live in a place with plenty of free/cheap indoor activities for children. I often think of the days when women had to live without a/c and use a horse/wagon for transportation on top of doing laundry by hand, washing dishes by hand, cooking from scratch with meat they butchered and vegetables they grew. Any time I start to think I have it hard, I remember this and realize I am truly living in luxury and ease.

Ethan imitating our fave lifeguard with his own homemade whistle of linked rubberbands and some rubber toy. She brought it to my attention and we both cracked up!

The boys and I have been enjoying our summer together, reading lots of books for our library book club, playing at the pool, seeing free movies at the theater, playing at the pool, starting homeschool with Ethan, and yes, playing at the pool. I plan to start homeschooling Ethan 1/2 days this coming Fall semester, so I've been preparing for that knowing what a big life change it will be for me. He will continue receiving speech, language, and auditory training at his school, while I teach him academics like Reading and Math at home. We've been waiting for this day for a long time and are glad it's finally here since we believe he now knows enough language to make it possible. Praying for much, much grace since teaching a deaf child (who relies on reading lips) is a very complex, time-consuming undertaking. And I know God will give the grace that's needed as He is always so faithful to do.

Waiting for the fun library program to start

Ethan "reading" to his cousins (my brother and his family of 5 blessed us with a visit last week!)...gotta love Ethan's homemade hat composed of an Ace bandage, swim hat, and headlight, with a necklace to boot!

Jeff is scheduled to return home by the end of August, so we are counting down the days by emptying our jelly bean containers one jelly bean per day! Now that the time is so close, it seems to be slowing down considerably! See past posts for our plans upon Jeff's return.

 Aunt Rachel (my sister) reading an apparently very interesting book

 My wonderful beloved parents!

 More cousins in Arkansas (can you tell they're all siblings?!)

 Our cow costumes to get a free lunch and breakfast at Chickfila...we are "udderly" shameless in our affection for Chickfila!

   

Shepherd at 4 1/2 months...very happy, blue-eyed, much-doted-on baby (whose crying right now, so I better go tend to him!)

Our Spring Season

We were so thankful to get to see Jeff at the end of May as he attended a chaplain conference in St. Louis. It was a very short time together, but a welcome visit to help break up the time until his return home. This past Spring also held for us a visit to see family in Arkansas, another stop at Silver Dollar City (using their wonderful military discount), and a few visits from aunts and uncles to our home. Praising God for sweet times and family like this to make the time seem shorter that we have to wait for Papa!

 Ethan and Judah with Aunt Linda visiting us in St Louis

 Shepherd (2 months old)

 Ethan's School Mother's Day Luncheon

Swim Photos from End of May (Hot Spring Season!)

We are SOOO thankful for an anonymous donor who paid for our family to have a season membership to our city pool!! She heard of our situation with Jeff being deployed, etc., and blessed us in a greater way than she knows. With such a hot spring and summer, and without Jeff here, there are only so many places that I can take all 4 boys safely and close-by. They have a great shallow kiddie pool where Levi has already taught himself to swim...and the other two are almost there!

Bragging on My Nephew

My 15 year old nephew, completely self-taught!

Silver Dollar City!

We just got back from a 2 day excursion to meet my family at Silver Dollar City! Other than some upset stomachs upon our return (probably from the cinnamon roll and funnel cake we downed that day!), we had a great time together riding rides, watching a couple shows, and staying in the hotel (a.k.a. swimming pool to the boys). Ethan and Levi rode their first real roller coasters and loved them, much to my surprise!

 Boys with Cousins and Grandpa

 Waiting for the "American Plunge" which soaked us!

 Aunt Sarah and Levi (I think Aunt Sarah enjoyed the frogs!...which are also my favorite kiddie ride)

 Judah and Ethan on the Ladybugs

"The Galleon" with Uncle Tim and Aunts Talitha and Sarah

Shepherd is 8 Weeks Old

Training Wheels, Smiles, and Loose Teeth

A few milestones in our family over the past few weeks...

Training wheels are officially removed for Ethan and Levi and they are biking like pros with just a few scraped elbows and knees to show for it! The boys are very excited and proud of this achievement.

Ethan's first loose tooth is here! A very real reminder that he is already 5 1/2 years old and an even bigger reminder of how fast time flies. We are awaiting the big day and Ethan's excited about getting money under his pillow for his tooth (from Mama, not the tooth fairy)!

Shepherd has started smiling and cooing and is a very happy baby most of the time. He is a very patient baby being #4, and loves social interaction even at 7 weeks old. In fact, this morning at church, a friend was holding/talking to him...he would smile and coo until she looked away, and then he would start crying! Very alert for 7 weeks I think!

 Ethan "Reading" to Judah in the "Boat" (a.k.a. every single toy and toy box piled into Judah's toddler bed)

Has it been over a month?!

Seems like just last week that Jeff was here and we were welcoming Shepherd to our family at the hospital...but it has actually been a little over a month already! Time certainly does fly when your home is filled with the fun, chaos, laughter, less sleep, and all the little details of caring for a newborn and 3 young boys. I am so grateful that we've all been blessed with good health this past month, and we were also happy to have a week of fun with Ethan out of school for his Spring Break last week. Other than that, no big news to report, just a few recent photos!

 ChickFila Family Fun Night (free facepainting!)

I didn't have my camera on me at ChickFila, so I grabbed a quick photo of the boys (going potty and all!) before washing it off for bedtime.

 New Bike (1/2 price at Target, so couldn't pass it up, since we "needed" one anyway!)

 Judah making a face just like Papa makes when he's being silly. He wasn't taught this...guess it's just genetic, since he definitely has a huge portion of Papa's genes!

 Fun Dip using finger instead of stick which was broken (took a couple days for his finger to return to normal)

Shepherd at 4 Weeks Old (and still a pretty easy-going little guy for which Mama is thankful!)

Shepherd is 2 Weeks Old!

Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks of our growing little boy(s).

 With Aunt Talitha (my most-capable home manager and nanny for the past 3 weeks)

 Levi with Aunt Talitha (our last big hoo-rah since I will be on my own now)

 Ethan on bumper cars with Aunts Talitha and Sarah

 I was surprised with this darling pair of booties in the mail, hand-made by my dear friend, Cynthia 

And also from Cynthia, a Lightning McQueen hat that Judah quickly laid claim to! 

 No decrease in the doting and affection Shepherd gets!

Our beautiful baby...looks a lot like Judah, which means he will most assuredly look like Papa!