school days

Well, it's that time of year again- SCHOOL!!!! Hannah is starting kindergarten this year and had 2 half days last week and will go all week this week. Zach is in the second grade (that just doesn't seem possible!) and absolutely LOVES school. The first day, he was up at 5am and coming into our room every 20 minutes to see what time it was. At 6, he ran downstairs, got breakfast, got his backpack all together, sharpened a pencil (to be ready as soon as he got to school) and was ready to go by 6:10am. The rest of the week went similarly- with the early bird getting ready to go to school!
Elizabeth and Abby and I will be hanging out at the house next week and I think she's looking forward to it. She is so funny. My grandma gave the girls a bunch of her old jewelry and they had so much fun getting dressed up and playing- as you can see E was having a blast.
Abby is doing swell. Last night Brian and I took her to a wedding in Lexington and she did great! She even slept through the whole night. What a difference a whole night of sleep makes. Brian's mom was in town last week and stayed with the other kiddos so we could go. THANKS BARB! JT and his mom were so grateful that we made the trip and we were really glad that we were able to see JT get married. It was a beautiful night!
Zach has started flag football (I'll take pics this week at practice) and Hannah starts dance and gymnastics in the next week, so things outta get busy! I'll post more pics later this week.

One week down....how many more to go?!

As soon as I find the camera, I'll post some pics of the baby and the kids. It's been a good week all things considered! The kids have been great this week. We've been blessed by great people stepping up and taking them on so that I could just sleep and take care of me and Abby. THANK YOU SO MUCH SUSAN, JANET, VAL, KAREN and NIKKI!!! Brian and I would not have survived this week without you!
Speaking of Brian, I'm going to brag on my husband for a sec to say that he has been GREAT this week. Not only did he survive labor and delivery with me and no medication, he's gotten the kids up and fed and where ever they have needed to be be each day. He's come home at lunch to get them, feed them (and me some days) and then took care of all of us after work. I don't think he realizes how much of a gift that has been for me.
Zach and Hannah start school on Tuesday. In the midst of the summer, it seemed to be going on forever and ever and now that the kids are starting back I am finding myself wondering where in the world the summer went! They went to the building where they will be for the next 2 years while their current school building is being torn down and rebuilt. They ran into friends and Zach is all excited to be going back, Hannah is a bit apprehensive and shy, but I think once she gets back into the swing of things, she'll be good to go. At least, that's what I'm telling myself!

She's here!

Saturday night, Abigail Renee joined the Kershner family in true form! We got to the hospital at 7pm and she was born at 10:11pm. Our doctor was stuck in Chicago and the doctor covering didn't get there quite quick enough, so the nurses ran and got the resident who literally walked into the room and delivered one of his first babies. She already has a flare for the dramatic! I'll give her that.

Abby weighed in at 7 lb. 15 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. We are home and doing well. The kids are besides themselves. Zach is great and has been doing a good job of trying to maintain the stability of girls and is holding Abby and being a quiet presence. Hannah is just Hannah. She is very excited and I think is still trying to figure all this out. She is intrigued by absolutely everything that Abby does. Then there is Elizabeth. I wish I would have thought to videotape her reaction to coming home. She was running around saying "I love baby!" and "Baby Abby home!". Then she was literally jumping up and down yelling "I'm so happy! I'm so happy!" It was precious.

It has been an interesting and introspective last few months for all of us. Now that all is said and done, I can saw that I have not only experienced God's people prayers (THANK YOU TO ALL WHO WERE PRAYING AGAINST KIDNEY STONES!!) but I've also experienced how God can truly change calloused hearts (thanks again to all those who have been praying for that!). This isn't the road I wanted to go on, but now that we've been on it for a while, I cannot imagine being on any other.

Still waiting

It's been a quiet week this week. We're in the final countdowns of baby Kershner's arrival and we are trying to hold out until the doc gets back from vacation (today). So, Saturday or is fair game we'll keep you posted!

The kiddos are all doing swell. I think that they are getting the end of the summer blahs and are getting into school mode. We've got Zach's school supplies all ready to go and we'll get Hannah's list in the next few days. Fun... I think I'll let Brian take Hannah shopping for all that stuff. I took her (and my mom) out last night for some new shoes- one hour and 15 trying-ons later, we got back with 5 pairs of shoes (thank you grandma)- one of which is not my favorite and well, to be honest, I never thought that I'd allow my kids to walk out of the house with- they look like 2 disco balls attached to her feet. But, they are her fancy sparkling shoes- so what can you do? Now that I've found the camera (it was playing hide and go seek for a few days) I'll post pics of the shoes and of the rooms.