Landon Everett Stark

The Lord has been so gracious and we are blessed to announce the birth of our beautiful son, Landon Everett Stark. He was born on June 17, 2008 at 5:11am. He weighed 7lbs., 8.6oz and he measured 20in. long. He is such an angel, he sleeps so well. He loves to sleep on his daddy's chest and James is such a proud father! I love to watch him Landon, it just melts my heart. The bond you feel with your child can't be described by any words I know. I feel such an incredible bond with our son and I am truly dreading the day I may have to return to work! My prayers now are to keep our baby healthy first and foremost and, if the Good Lord will allow, for me not to have to go back to work. I know it's a long shot, but I'm putting the future in His hands and for now will enjoy watching Landon change and grow day by day. Motherhood is such an amazing, wonderful thing!

It's sooo hot!

Does anyone ever remember Redding being this hot in the middle of May! It's been over 100 degrees for 3 of the last 5 days, I'm dying, here. God sure does have a sense of humor, doesn't he! I'll try to get some pictures up in the next couple days but I haven't cleared out my camera for some time...it's all so overwhelming for me. I just keep adding things to my "to do" list. I had a wonderful baby shower a few weeks ago, James and I (and Landon) are truly blessed. Kerri, Chris, et. al. did a really fantastic job and made it really special. There were so many people there! It was really great and by the end I was exhausted. We received so many wonderful gifts, I didn't know what to do with it all!! Kerri came over this last weekend and basically did everything for me - she organized everything in Landon's room and made sure everything was put away. Thank you so much for your help, Kerri, you're a life saver (and Landon thanks you, too!). So, with just five weeks to go (hopefully less) we're almost ready for this little guy to make his grand entrance into this world.

As I'm sure most of you know, James didn't leave for the academy in April like we had hoped. God has other plans for us right now, which really is a blessing because he will get to see his first son be born! But, we are still waiting for God to direct us on what to do with James' work. I know His plans are greater than ours! Well, happy beginning of summer to everyone. Although it's way to early to be saying that, summer is obvioulsy here! We look forward to barbeques and swimming...

A Big Belly and Trip to the Coast

I am definately glad this is almost over...I am so thankful and I really am blessed that my pregnancy has been so easy but I also can't say I'm enjoying it! We can't wait until our baby is born...he finally has a name, too! I will say it's been fun to register and collecting baby stuff. It makes it all more real and exciting. I'm only 26 1/2 weeks here, imagine how huge I'll be when it's time to have this little boy...

This was so fun! We went to the coast with Jake and Jennifer a few weeks ago just to go to Samoa Cookhouse. Unfortunatley, the food wasn't really that great but we had such a great time. Cailee was so good the whole time and the drive was beautiful. We went to the shore line and watched the waves crash into the rocks. It was spraying pretty high at some points. There was this little boy there with his dad and grandma and he and his dad were challenging the water so to speak. After tempting fate one too many times the water sprayed about 20 feet into the air and knocked the little boy flat on his butt! Not to mention he and his dad were completely soaked. It was pretty cold, too! We had a real good laugh for a few minutes. Jake took us to this really cool art gallery in downtown Eureka and then I saw a chocolate shop so of course we had to stop (when the baby says he want's chocolate, I have to eat chocolate)! Since we don't know how much longer James will be in town, we've been trying to do something together every weeked because our time together, without a baby, is limited! We still haven't gotten James' "invitation" to the academy but we continue to be faithful and know that God has a perfect plan for us...Happy Easter to all!!!!!

It's a Boy!!

What a blessing it is to see this baby's hand so clearly with five fingers and waivng! How can you deny the good Lord exists when you see such an amazing miracle!

So, sure enough, it's a boy! We don't have a name picked out yet, but we're both excited to know that our baby is healthy. All his measurements were perfect, his heart beat was strong and we watched his little person moving around on the screen! I felt him move for the first time on January 10th. Since then, this whole experience has become so real and so exciting for me!

James had his physical last week and his psych is next week...we'll see if he passes! Please pray for us if you think of us. There will be many changes for us over the next year and we're both starting to feel the presure just a little! But we continue to remain optomistic and know that God will provide everything we need!!!

A New Job, A New Baby and A New Place to Live?

Well, at least one of those is a sure thing! We're having a kid. Can you believe it? At first I though we would be the first of all our friends to have kids but it turns out God had another plan for us, we're the last of almost all our friends (and family for that matter) to bring a little Stark into the world! As I'm sure many of you know, James applied with CHP and is currenly in the background process...he may start the Academy as soon as April! We are very excited about the changes to come this year. As long as James passes his background and all the other tests they will subject him to, he will attend the Academy for 27 weeks and then be assigned somewhere in the state of California for work (that narrows it down, huh?). We are praying he will be somwhere within a few hundred miles, like the bay area. But, if he did get assigned to Carmel or Monterey, I wouldn't be too dissapointed to have to live there! So, we're definateld having a baby, probably new jobs and maybe even a new place to live! Stay tuned!