Introducing Ruth Julianna Nolt

After struggling to conceive for 18 months it was a surprise to find out that we were finally expecting our second child last May. I had a healthy, very long pregnancy but it was so exciting to experience growing another human again.
After spending several months living in PA again, we moved back to Michigan. We had rented our house out so we rented a little house in town until our renters could move out.
I was excitedly planning on having a VBAC home birth with my dear friend as my midwife. Everything was looking good except for dealing with GBS again.
My due date came and went without our new bundle of joy. I had so much pressure on me to have my baby before my 100 year old grandma passed away. But labor just wasn't progressing. Contractions would start and stop week after week.
Finally at 13 days overdue I went to the hospital for an ultrasound and a stress test. Everything looked good during the stress test and my ob-gyn was OK with me waiting a few more days...until the ultrasound proved otherwise.
Baby Ruth was at least 9 lbs and my amniotic fluid was low so no one would induce labor for me. My husband and I decided to just go ahead and have a second C-section so I was quickly prepped for surgery.
The entire time my doctor was working on me she was complaining about my previous incision. It was up too high on my belly which is why I had so much drainage and issues with healing. She made another incision site lower on my belly so I now have two C-section scars.
At 4:32 pm on February 18th Ruth Julianna was lifted screaming from my womb. After experiencing a blue birth with her brother, the sound of her screaming was music to my ears.
I was so happy to see a healthy, big baby. And holding her after I was settled in my room was pure heaven. No waiting 30 hours this time around.

Ruth Julianna Nolt 

9 lbs

21 1/4 inches long

Big brother loves Baby Rush! He was so excited to hold her. 

And kiss her!

Welcome to our family, sweet Baby Ruth! Mommy, daddy, and big brother love you very much. You bring so much joy to our life.

Sadly Baby Ruth never got to meet my grandma. Two days before she was born my grandma passed away. It was difficult for me to miss her funeral but no way was I traveling four days after a C-section. 

Three generations of Ruth...my grandma would have been the fourth. 

Five generations of Ruth - my mom, daughter and I posing next to the grave of the very first Ruth. 

Ruth Viola, Alma Ruth, Ruth Naomi, Martha Ruth, and Ruth Julianna. 

I wish that my grandma and my daughter could have met. My grandma lived a long life and she deserved to go Home and be with Pap again.

I am so thankful for my godly heritage. I have so much to live up to and I hope to pass it on to my own children. I am so blessed. 

Oh, Happy Day!

The year 2017 has been one roller coaster ride after another. We started the year living in our cozy little house in Michigan. My husband was driving for a company he drove for when he lived out there before moving to PA in 2014. The relationship he had with the new owner of the company became pretty strained and he treated Wendell very childishly so Wendell found a new job as an over the road truck driver in February.
For the next three months we traveled the country as a family. What a blessing it was because I got to cross states off of my bucket list. We drove through Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and my all-time favorite - TEXAS!! The best part was that our son is well-traveled now and has been in 32 states at the age of two. We loved life on the road but it quickly became too much for us. We were out for weeks on end and only allowed 1 1/2 days at home whenever we made it home.
We decided that enough was enough. Wendell was quickly hired on again at Knight Transportation where he had a great working relationship with his driver manager (dispatcher) so we loaded up our van and said our tearful goodbyes. We moved back to PA on Mother's Day and Wendell started his "new" job the next day.
We quickly bought a 5th-wheel to live in and parked it in a campground real close to my parents. We settled in to life in beautiful Pennsylvania. One more dream was about to come true and life was about to change for our little family.
After a year and a half of shattered dreams. After 36 negative pregnancy test results. After countless hours spent praying that God would bless us with another child. God finally granted us our heart's desire.
WE'RE EXPECTING A BABY IN JANUARY 2018!!!
We are so excited!! My first Doctor appointment is tomorrow at Reading Birth and Women Center. I am planning to use a midwife and have a VBAC. Since I'm planning to have a VBAC, I will have to have the baby in the Reading Hospital. I just hope and pray that everything goes well with this delivery.
My only regret is that my dear friend and midwife, Jillian, cannot deliver this baby. There's just too many miles between PA and Michigan. We miss our dear friends and family in Michigan.
Life has changed so much for us the first half of this year. I'm hoping that as we settle in to our new life that things settle down a bit.
We continue to thank God for each blessing He bestows upon us.
Blessings,

Martha and the Wendells

Infertility Awareness

April is Infertility Awareness month. I
never really took notice of it before. Before this past year that is. Now it hits home with me.
For thirty years I lived the single life. I never even expected to get married so having children was something I only dreamed of having one day.
Then life changed dramatically for me. I met someone, got married, and wham, we were pregnant!
After having our son through an emergency c-section we followed my doctor's orders to wait a year to get pregnant again. For the most part. We started trying again when Sonny was 9 months old.
However month after disappointing month our test response was "not pregnant".
No matter how heartbroken we are we are continuing to try and we are trusting in God.
If His answer is one and done then we'll be ok with that. If His answer is simply to wait on His timing we are definitely ok with that. God is in control.
Please remember to keep those who are struggling with infertility in your thoughts and prayers. They may look like they are calm, cool, and collected on the outside but they are dying on the inside.

Celebrating our birthday a week early in Troutdale Oregon, not far from Portland,at a restaurant next to the truckstop. The mac and cheese and the peanut butter chocolate silk pie were too die for. And the best bacon cheeseburger I've ever eaten. Shari's restaurant in Troutdale Oregon is a must stop location.

Thank you, Sonny, for making my dreams of motherhood come true. You are the best birthday gift a girl could ever ask for and I'm so thankful it's you. 

I want so badly to give you brothers and sisters but if that is not God's will I hope you know that you are more than enough for us. You are our meaning for living. You bring joy and light into our lives and you motivate us to keep going no matter how hard life is.

We love precious boy. Never doubt it.

Life on the Road

Two weeks ago my husband took an over the road trucking job with a local trucking company. Thankfully for us, the company doesn't have a rider policy so Sonny and I are able to ride along with him.
So on Sunday, February 12th, the three of us headed out of chilly Shepherd, Michigan and we picked up a loaded trailer bound for Georgia. We drove through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and into Georgia where we spent the night. We delivered the load the next day and picked up a loaded trailer bound for Detroit.
We made it back to Michigan the next day. After dropping the load in Detroit we headed for Holland, Michigan and picked up another load and headed west to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Miles and miles of interstate and seven states later we reached our destination. Sonny took in every mile the best he could. At times he was restless and wanted out of his seat.
Now here we sit in Phoenix, Arizona waiting for our scheduled pickups so we can get on our way again. We are soaking up the seventy degree weather and enjoying sitting still for a little while.

Pics from our adventure:

The view from the Utah welcome center.

The Rockies!

The Colorado River at the California - Arizona line.

A New Year, A New Me

My focus this year will be on being a happier and healthier me. As hard as I've tried, I wasn't able to shake off all the drama last year and I let it get me down. My emotions have taken a heavy toll because of it. Hearing about the births of my niece and nephew through a third party really rocked me and left me shaken. My hope is to one day be a part of their lives but it has to be on our terms. My husband and I will no longer let people walk all over us, even family.
My battle with infertility has had a tremendous impact on my life. I know that if I can only get my hormones and weight under control that everything else will fall into place. I had high hopes in December only to have them dashed on Christmas Eve. I am so thankful for my son but I so badly want to give him a sibling to beat up on; I mean, love up on!
So I started January with a new diet that seems to be working well. Unfortunately, I got sick and delayed my diet a few days but I'm back on the wagon again. I also started Bible journaling again with hopes of keeping my emotions balanced by focusing on God's Word.
I am a work in progress but I know that with God's help, anything is possible. Please pray for us as we wait on God's will for our lives and trust in Him. He is in charge no matter how many times we try to push Him aside and take over the reigns.
Thy will be done.

Thankful Thursday

As we welcome in another month I'm taking time to give thanks for the events of the past week. We are most thankful for our Thanksgiving trip home to Pennsylvania. It was great to spend time with family and friends as we feasted on turkey and all the trimmings, especially my mom's sweet potatoes!! The best part of our Thanksgiving day was that it was drama free...very rare in my family!!
We spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with my family before heading home on Sunday morning. Even though we enjoyed our time in PA, it was nice to get back to our house and back to our normal routine...until Christmas!
Here are just a few pics from our time in PA:

Two family pics. So blessed.

My cheeky lil monkey. Love him.

At the Newmanstown park.

Best buds!

My babies! I'm thankful to have these 3 children (and their older brother) in my life. Love them and their parents.

We look forward to making the eastward trek to PA again for Christmas. It will be a longer visit this time so we hope to visit with more people and make more memories to cherish.

Happy Holidays, everybody.

Thanksgiving Reflection

This Thanksgiving season I have been reflecting back on my somewhat short life. I had a childhood that was filled with ups and downs and some trauma. My 20s could be considered manic; I was just getting by emotionally. My 30s so far have been pure bliss. I like to say that life didn't really start for me until my 30s. I'm so thankful for the presence of my husband and son in my life.
Today I am going to reflect on my 20s. I put myself through school; earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. I had aspirations of a career in law enforcement; eventually joining the FBI. However, the thing I wanted the most alluded me.
Since I was about 10 years of age, all I wanted was to be a wife and mother. I yearned for the day that I could get married. Finally I reached the age where I could finally get married. However, the few short relationships I had went nowhere.
My 20s came and slowly went and nothing. I watched friends meet their partners, fall in love, get married, and have children. I watched as some of those friends took their spouses for granted. I was dying inside because I wanted what I thought I could never have.

Throughout my 20s, I had on occasion tried several dating sites without success. Finally in an act of desperation I decided to give Christian Mingle a try. I paid a three month membership in February 2014. February crawled by without success, March came and went without even a nibble, finally in April I decided that I had had enough. My membership was about to expire and I had no intentions of renewing it.
On the eve of my 30th birthday, I searched through profile after profile sending out smiley faces along the way. I was about to quit for the night when I stumbled upon a profile that really stuck out to me. After reading through his profile several times I sent him a smiley face and went to bed. The next morning (my 30th birthday) I awoke to a message from him saying that he thought we would make a great match and that he'd like to get to know me better.
Just one smiley face changed my life forever. A week later he and I met in person, two months later we were engaged, and a month later we were married. Our wedding present came nine months later on my 31st birthday. God has really been blessing me with awesome birthday presents!!
I'd love to say that our marriage has been a bed of roses in the two and a half years we've been married but it hasn't. We had our ups and downs like every married couple do. We had knock down drag out fights and at times one of us wanted to leave.
Thankfully we stuck it out. My husband can really get on my last nerve sometimes but I couldn't live without him. My husband is also the sweetest, gentlest, most loving man I know and he is the greatest husband and father in my world.
My encouragement to you is that you hold close those loved ones in your life. Stop taking your spouse or your children for granted. Give your spouse another chance. Tell him or her that you love him/her. Order flowers, chocolates, or a teddy bear. Just let them know what they mean to you.
And be thankful.
Don't forget to give your spouse and children an extra hug today.
Happy Thanksgiving!

 What are you thankful for today?