"You had the baby!"

I had my first trip to Wal-mart today, but with only Charlie and David instead of all 4 boys. Joseph and Will played at Mrs. J.'s house and had a grand time while I shopped. I got to show Charlie off to all of the workers who we have gotten to know from our weekly shopping trips. Being hugely pregnant and shopping faithfully every Wednesday morning with 3 young children in tow makes me an easy person to remember, I suppose. :) I had trouble finding room in my cart for the groceries with David up front in the child seat and Charlie in the back in his carrier. I overdid it too and was exhausted afterwards. It was lifting the 50 lb. bag of dog food that finally was just too much.

Joe and I have been talking some recently about downsizing and we actually went and looked at some houses yesterday. We have been thinking about buying a smaller (cheaper) house and paying for it completely rather than keeping this big house with a mortgage. It is definitely appealing to think of being 100% debt free ("Freedom!!!!"), but we really love our land. I am not attached to this house, but I love the yard. Joe did mention today how much more free time we would have if we didn't have to keep up with the yard though....

Anyway, it is an interesting discussion and it gets to the core of what we are going to value as a family. Land or being debt free? Being able to save now to free us up for future ministry or paying on a mortgage? Living in 1600 or 3200 sq ft? Having the huge yard and driveway for the boys or the usual backyard play area? We'll see where God leads.

Lastly, here is a picture of Charlie from today. He's just under 10 lbs now and doing great!

Confidential to the aunts: The "teenager" is back and banging against my living room window again!