Wallace Bradford and Jubilee Katherine!

Jubilee Katherine

The Double Cousins

Wallace Bradford

Double Delivery!

Our four big boys arrived in Iowa Saturday night to move things out of the farmhouse. 

It miraculously sold in 18 days, 

and when the buyers asked for a mid-July closing, we realized 

God's absolutely perfect timing coordinated with the due dates! So grateful. 

On Sunday morning, Lina was on her porch, breathing through some good contractions (hallelujah!) and finding her focal point. At this time it was a little green cornstalk in the field. Very Lina. :) We all got ready for church, thrilled that we were getting closer to labor, and kept about ten phones handy JUST IN CASE!! Cass, Josh, and the rest of us went to church and had a wonderful time catching up with everybody.

 Sunday afternoon the boys and my Mom were organizing at the farmhouse and I really felt like I needed to get back over to Kalona. I checked on Carolina but all was quiet. No answer on phones. Napping, thought I. 

When I went Cassidy's house her "minor twinges" were long. Painful. Three minutes apart. Had been since lunch. Knowing the hospital was 50 minutes away, we called Josh, who called Carson to see if he would take his place doing farm chores. 

And Carson was...well....already on his way to the hospital. Going quite fast. 

 In the wake of the small flurry to get out the door, this thought: 

They are ALL going down the same road. To the SAME hospital. They have the SAME midwife (this ought to be quite interesting!) and possibly COULD have these babies on the SAME day. Oh. Wow. 

So I jumped in the truck for the longest trek of my entire LIFE, praying all the way like a maniac Granny and practicing utmost patience with the Sunday afternooners driving VERY methodically through Iowa.

 First Carson flies by them. Then Joshua. Then Mother. 

Can you picture this? :)

When I got there Carolina was pushing and had gone straight from the parking lot to delivery. Carson very sweetly let me join them and at 6 pm, about 20 minutes later...glorious, glorious, GLORIOUS! 

 Jubilee Katherine Bontrager arrived!

6 lbs, 12oz...20 inches long

Hallelujah!! So tiny and precious and perfect and delicate! 

Jubilee is a celebration of life, and Katherine is for her lovely Momma.

Since Josh and Cass figured outside the hospital was close enough for help if things really went fast, they parked and walked. And walked. 

And visited dear Baby Jubilee. And checked in. 

And they were given the room right next door to Carson and Lina. :) 

If I was a writer like our dear Josh I would think of some word beyond HEROIC to describe Cassidy, but that pretty much sums it up. The stroke of midnight came and went, and at that point I'm not sure any of us remembered the charming idea of a shared birthday. But the Lord was ever faithful to provide encouragement and good counsel from the midwife

 and a slight change of course that helped Cassidy immensely.

At the most wonderful 6am that ever was,

Wallace Bradford Bontrager arrived! 

8 lbs, 1oz...20 inches long

Named for William Wallace and William Bradford, he spent his first 30 minutes of life in the free world observing all of us observing him. Not sure if he was planning a battle or a sermon, but he seemed to approve. Whew! :)

We PRAISE THE LORD for such magnificent answers to prayer, for the blessings of family and children, for the perfect timing of everything, and for giving us these precious, precious souls to love and raise for Him.  Mommies and babies are home and happy and adjusting to "the new normal" well. 

I love this time that Curtis has given me to be here with our girls!  

Racing between houses and darling babies with recovery remedies and BIRTHDAY PRESENTS (now that we know where to apply the pink and the blue) is the best initiation into Grand Mommy life I could possibly imagine!

So much love and so many prayers! Thank you!!!

More pictures on the way. :)  

3 Week Baby Countdown!

Almost here! So blessed and excited our July babies are almost here!

The girls are doing great, preparing for labor, and are just the cutest Mommies around.
Everyone asks: boys or girls or one of each? And WOW! We don't know!
Apparently patience from some unknown source was bestowed on BOTH of them.
Baby stuff is DECIDEDLY pink or blue so our nesting and collecting tiny things has been minimal. But! Soon! Sooooo excited to love and hold these precious ones.
 Name discussions continue in both households,
and they are both QUITE sure they will be the first in labor. :)

Josh and Cassidy. Family pictures. Too sweet.

Cass sent me this a few weeks ago so Crosby and I did a
little homeschooling on babies at 35 weeks. Amazing!!

Love the tummies.

Miss, miss, miss my girls! Love it when they send me pics like this. :)

Lina and Carson's high tech, intruder proof garden. :)

Multitasking! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my new sons?!

                  
                                           A last "Before Baby" date for a few days.

 SO happy, happy, happy to be home after several months on the road! 

Just a LITTLE wood for the fire. Split and stacked by Carson. 

Hoping the littles use their endless energy to fill the shed this Summer. :)

Joshua is a fantastic preacher and writer.

You can read his latest posts on Intentional Christianity here. 
  

Carolina! It is about time to HAVE that baby!

Time to relax!
When you tour with 10+ wonderful, energetic people,
this is rather important.  :)

Reminder! Find fantastic gelato and keep talking!

 Love knowing my girls are neighbors!
  I am so very thankful they all have each other.

Praying for safe, uneventful deliveries, and healthy Mommies and babies.
Praise the Lord for these precious new blessings!

Happy Father's Day!

God has been so good to give us a truly amazing Daddy! 

We put together some favorite pictures for him 

and thought we'd share them with you.

Campaign season! So glad we got to work on this all together!

Varying degrees of happy hearts (!) on the way to the Orchard House for breakfast.

Hiking at Rock Cut State Park.

Daddy is the very best hugger of the family!

This is why every boy needs a Daddy. In the dryer...in his parka....with the CAT? Oh dear.

Hiking at Enchanted Rock in Texas.

The littles. Idaho...ninety degrees outside.
Love Daddy's wheel barrow, and cannot believe they all FIT!

Cass has been assisting Daddy for a LONG time!  

I think we need about 20 more babies like Chap.

Bowers' Birthdays generally happen a month or so after the real day!

We are grateful that Daddy is soo flexible!

Man to man talks. Very important. :)

 What we really need: a wall size poster of these precious BOYS!

"Let brotherly love continue..."

Daddy has lovingly shared nuggets of wisdom with the girls as often as possible for years.

He also apparently shared his shaving cream. Ha. :)

If you'd told me 29 years ago I'd have a pilgrim sitting in my rocker, 

I might have just fallen off it!

Dear Daddy was good natured and kind enough to go along with 

a "Return to Plymouth" celebration hatched by the girls!

The day they nabbed Crosby's bow collection.

We are very thankful Daddy has always tried to be health conscious and that he endured so many years of vegetable soup on toddlers. :)

Favorite gear for Idaho farm boys: 

Rubber boots and Carhart overalls. Perfect.

Charlie and a very cute dog. We do not know WHOSE dog. :)

Celebrating Baby Crosby+ Costco Pumpkin Pie. 

Tea Parties! Ladies simply must drink tea!! 

Adventure hikes! So fun!

The first song we ever sung together from the hymnal was

 "When We All Get To Heaven". 

Girls were two and four. :)

 It has been a privilege to join Daddy as he speaks to all kinds of audiences.

This is a man with a mission. Definitely. :)

The Happy Hen Egg Farm !

Gingersnaps every Fall, made by Cassidy.

Very special time with just Daddy over in Greece.

The amazing thing was Daddy got in, too. 

This is called "desperate for a swimming hole"!!

Just what is the age limit on dressing up baby brothers?

Families with allergies to indoor pets tend to adopt whatever walks through the yard.

Brothers. The wrestling begins early?

Sweet friends joined us as we worked on our farmhouse.

                       

 Crosby's Bunny named Honeysuckle.

 Daddy had as much fun on the scooters as they did! :)

The Best! Trips and treats with Daddy are the BEST!

We spent Crosby's entire first year changing her dresses and bows. :)

Daddy and Cass racing at Scooter Hill!

Chap and Lina. Everyone needs a few Mamas!

Favorite stop at Mount Rushmore.

Discussing issues of life with Carver over lunch. :)

Daddy very patiently lets us get our adventure fixes! We piled in the bus after dinner for this one and went to see the Christmas lights at the Creation Museum. Thankfully we were only one state away!

Science. Ongoing! We are blessed that Daddy is such a great teacher 

and helps us think through everything!!

Can we just FREEZE this moment? Oh, how we love these girls!! 

Father Daughter Retreat in GA. Daddy is so good at carving out time to do special things!

He IS and will always be our favorite speaker!

Among other things, he encourages Dads to be purposeful about praying for 

and teaching their families what the Bible says. 

Ha! It appears everyone was NOT on the same page here.

Driving the bus hundreds of miles and then bolting to the closet to change clothes while reviewing your speaking topic is NOT for the wimpy. 

Daddy did this almost every day for nine months! We are grateful for his faithful example of following through even when it's not easy.

Remembering the Alamo!

Sprinkler children before they decided wet clothes were not worth wearing! Ha. :)

"Tis a beautiful thing to be in a beautiful place with someone you love!"

Loved our Idaho apple trees! Apple sauce, apple crisp, apple pie, apple butter! 

Daddy loves to store up for the Winter!  

More campaigning. Many valuable lessons learned!

Daddy's time in the legislature was the beginning of all things AGENDA. 

That's a lot of love!! 

We love that Daddy is always explaining the right way to do things! 

Very fine catch! 

Boys and Daddy put Halibut on the menu for months!

Sometimes it is just hot when you're racing fast! 

Amazing what Gorilla tape can do! :)

Is it possible Daddy could almost hold them all at ONCE?!

Daddy is one of the most patient, precise people on earth! 

We love his films and hope we can talk him into making another one very soon. :)

This is very serious, y'all. :)

Texas....at the beginning of our very first bus trip ever! 10 weeks. 

Memorable in every way!

Love that we had very concentrated time all piled in together before the girls got married!

God is so good!

Heading out early Christmas morning to take cookies
and gospel tracts to gas stations and motels. 

Daddy has always made this very special tradition happen.

It's a blessed thing to have work to do that often involves dinner! Yay! :)

There was a season when the Littles shouted, "B-Roll!"

(all your interesting and extra footage) at every passing bird or plane!

Oh, the love and cheeks!! :)

Daddy is very dignified and wise, but also a bit dramatic. This is his V for Victory. :)

  The boys have been beyond blessed to work along side Daddy everyday. 

Almost 29 years! So grateful to the Lord for guiding and directing our paths.

Fantastic gardening moment! Threw the seeds out in the yard 

and all these grew across the driveway. Thank you, Lord! 

Love this. Daddy is VERY flexible and does his work everywhere!

Brief and somewhat crazy season of raising turkeys! 

Brought them home for Thanksgiving. Turned out they were mostly bones and feathers.

Did not repeat. Moved on to chickens. :)

Naps in the grass are the best!

Campbell on a stakeout. :)

Lots of walks and talks and dates make everything better! 

Pushup contest at Badlands! Daddy is an fantastic coach!

Our attempts at Family Pictures are legendary. 

Praise the Lord for digital! 

We used to develop hundreds and still not get ONE! 

The ongoing story of BOYS and FOOD!

Gentlemen! Really! The dish towels?! 

Daddy is at the helm of great ongoing conversations about life, character, music, politics, world views, investments, business ideas, films and book ideas. There is TRULY never a dull moment! 

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above."~ James 1:17

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches 

and loving favor rather than silver and gold."

~Proverbs 22:1 

Happy Father's Day!

We Love You!